A young ferret enthusiast is appealing for help to find four ferrets which have been stolen from their hutch in his garden.

James Girdler, 20, a computer aided design engineer, from Hurst, is offering a £300 reward for the return of the animals.

He said: "I went out to feed them in the morning of Wednesday last week and found they weren't there. The door which had been locked the night before was open.

"I would ask anyone who sees them around or hears of someone finding them to contact me on my mobile 07557 686 155. I have reported the fact that they are missing to the police in case anyone finds them.

"They aren't valuable, nothing like the amount of the reward, but I am really sorry to lose them. People say ferrets are smelly and vicious, but they're not. They're great creatures to keep, full of energy, inquisitive and can become quite tame with the correct care and attention.

Two of Mr Girdler's missing pets were polecat ferrets, similar in looks to wild polecats.

Wolfy is mainly dark brown and Whiskey is lighter coloured with more white in his fur. They have black eye patches and white ears, cheeks and snouts.

Womble is a sandy ferret, a light beige/sandy colour with a white throat patch and a slightly darker tail. Mirrem, an albino ferret, is the only female and is much smaller, all white, with red eyes and her canine teeth missing.

James, a keen photographer, won various prizes in a national competition run by pet food company James Wellbeloved for photographs of the ferrets which have gone missing.